L'amour

Outfit Details:

Cutout Dress (L'Amour Nanette Lepore): jcpenney

Jelly flats: J.Crew (old)

Heart ring: Urban Outfitters (sold out)

Daisy ring: Mom's

This is the dress that I mentioned in yesterday's post.  I wasn't planning on getting a dress from JC Penney (is it JC Penney or jcpenney?  Has this changed?  I never know), but when I saw this one in the juniors section, I knew I had to at least try it on.  I love the shape and vibrant color, and the print is so interesting, with the hand-drawn anchors, lions and daisies. 

I thought these two rings were really appropriate for this dress (and the name of the line)!

I learned a really valuable lesson about sizing the day I got this dress.  Specifically, a lesson about not getting hung up on sizing!  This dress (and whole line) is from the juniors' section.  When clothes are cut for a juniors line, they really aren't well-fitted for larger bust or hip sizes.  Logically, I know this, but there is a certain amount of vanity involved when shopping for me; not only do I want to look good in clothes, but I do get a certain satisfaction about knowing I am a size ___, etc.  There have definitely been times where I don't want to buy something in a size larger, because I don't want to have to think of myself as wearing a size 10 (instead of my normal size 8)!

When I went to try on this dress, they were out of size 9, which would be my first pick for my size in the juniors' section under normal circumstances.  So I tried on the size 11, thinking it'd maybe be too big, but could work.  To my shock, I couldn't even zip it up!  I really loved the dress though, so I decided to try it on in a 13 for kicks, expecting it to be too big.  Lo and behold, the dress was pretty much perfect on me.  It looked great, but I definitely felt bummed about having to wear a dress that was two sizes larger than what I thought my normal size would be.

And then I tried on a different dress from the ladies' section.  They were out of my normal size 8, so I took the size 6 they had into the dressing room, assuming it wouldn't even zip.  It ended up fitting perfectly.  So here I was, able to wear both a size 6 and a size 13.  I'm fairly certain the other dress I tried on probably ran a little big, but it just goes to show that you can't get too hung up on the size you wear.  Because I've bought quite a number of vintage items on Etsy, I've gotten pretty good with knowing my current measurements, which has been helpful.  But when buying items in a store, you kind of just have to take a chance sometimes, since we don't have universal sizing.  I know people who cut out the tags in their clothes, which I think is a good self-confidence booster, but I think I can just be secure in the knowledge that you never really know what'll work until you try it on.  :)

I love these little jelly shoes.  I bought them 2+ years ago, before jellies were back in fashion.  I'd like to think I was ahead of the curve on that one.  But I guess it was just that J.Crew was, really.

My grandma is coming up from Florida today!  She's here for the 4th of July, though we're not doing really anything exciting that day -- we're having our big family party on Saturday instead.  But I don't get to see my grandma very often, so I'm looking forward to spending time with her!  

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

xox Sammi